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Sociology Optional PYQ Solutions · Model answer

Is it possible to study social phenomenon scientifically? Give a critical answer.

  • UPSC 1997
  • Sociology as a Science

The question of whether social phenomena can be studied with the rigour of the natural sciences has divided sociology since its founding: Auguste Comte and Emile Durkheim answered affirmatively, treating "social facts" as observable things amenable to positivist method, while Max Weber insisted social reality is qualitatively different, requiring Verstehen rather than external measurement alone.

You are reading the opening of the model answer. The full answer is part of Sociology Optional PYQ Solutions.

What the full answer covers

  • The Reflexivity Problem
  • The Impossibility of True Controlled Experimentation
  • The Absence of Context-Free, Universal Laws
  • The Meaning-Dimension That Resists External Measurement
  • The Researcher's Own Embeddedness
  • The Qualified Counter-Case

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